Researchers from Kansas State university have received a $760,000 grant from the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Safety to help combat foodborne diseases and increase food safety awareness in Cambodia.
The team, composed of researchers from K-State, Pennsylvania State University, Purdue University and Cambodia, will focus on the vegetable chain in Cambodia to reduce the prevalence of foodborne pathogens.
Jessie Vipham is an assistant professor in animal sciences and industry. Vipham is the principal investigator on the grant: “From my personal perspective, I view food safety and the right to have safe food as a basic human right. When you think about a lot of the diseases that are associated with foodborne disease, they’re largely preventable and we have a lot of the technology and science and understanding to prevent foodborne disease.”
The project will last three and a half years; it is a team effort between the US and Cambodian researchers.
“This is really a collective research project that is meant to be country led and focus on questions that Cambodians thought were important,” Vipham told kstatecollegian.com. “We’ve been given an opportunity to collaborate and work in a team atmosphere on a project that will develop food safety systems for Cambodia with Cambodia as major project partners.”